Surah al-Hajj (The Pilgrimage ) 22 : 12

Explanatory Note

So where does the person who worships God on the border line go when he strays from God? In simple terms, “he invokes, instead of God, something that can neither harm nor benefit him.” He may invoke an idol or a statue in old fashioned ignorance, or jāhiliyyah, or he may invoke a person, or some authority, or interest, like the different forms of jāhiliyyah that exist at any time or place, whenever human beings abandon belief in God’s oneness and turn their backs on His guidance. But what does all this represent? It is all going astray from the only method in which invocation is of use: “This is the utmost that one can go astray.” Indeed when anyone resorts to invoking such beings instead of God, he takes himself very far away from the truth and the right way leading to it.

“Indeed he invokes one that is far more likely to cause harm than benefit,” be that an idol, Satan, or a human being providing support or protection. None of these can cause the invoker either harm or benefit; indeed, they are more likely to bring him harm than benefit. This harm results, in the spiritual world, from overburdening one’s heart with myth and humiliation. As for the material world, its harm is self-evident.